A Thief by Any Other Name
by Tamah
Summary: All she wanted to do was catch something other than a Magikarp. When she did, she was accused of being a thief, and she made a bet with the Devil's spawn. How fun. Game-verse, Johto.
1. Chapter 1: And it Begins

**Tamah: So. . . . Hi there. :D I started writing this when I moved, I wrote it at school, usually, and now people think that I'm some crazy kid. Great first impression.**

**But anyway, this is a story about the (Heart)Gold/(Soul)Silver/Crystal games, mostly the originals, because I'm a nostalgia-fag . XP I just thought Kris/Crystal needed some love, now that she's been replaced and all. *sniff***

**

* * *

**

My dad was sitting at his post as he watched me leave. "Maybe today will be your lucky day, champ." He tried to sound encouraging.

I laughed. "I wish," I hefted my Super Rod, "I think this thing's broken." The bell I had tied to the top jingled.

"Ahh, Crissy, don't be like that." He smiled. "I might have to go somewhere later today, so don't freak out if the post is empty."

I nodded, but wincing at the hated nickname. My dad was the route guard for Route 45's route gate. It wasn't that bad of a job, really. My dad and I lived upstairs, along with another route guard, named Perry. My mom was in Sinnoh at that moment, studying the ancient Pokémon there.

I waved at him and left, heading up route 45. I was heading to a little pond, where I fished from everyday. There was supposed to be a "Magical Mirage Pokémon" that you could find while you were fishing, according to a legend.

I remember my grandma first telling me that legend. I was visiting her at her house in Blackthorn. I don't think I was much older than six, and I loved hearing her stories. I made her tell me this one like a million times. It started out with a man who had lost all of his Pokémon to a highway man. He was wandering though the canyons, trying to find a way out, when he found a small pond. He was starving, so he went fishing for something to eat. Instead of a fish, though, he found a beautiful Pokémon who led him out of the maze of canyons, and it became the most powerful Pokémon that he had ever had.

I'd been going there for three solid years, and nothing but stupid magikarp. I wasn't going to give up, not because I really wanted the Pokémon, there was just absolutely nothing else to do. And I liked fishing, anyway.

After a long ten-minute hike up ledges and over rocks, I arrived at the pond. I plopped myself under a berry tree, relaxing for a minute before casting my line. I watched the float. It was kind of hypnotic, and I zoned out. I was snapped out of my reverie by the sound of the bell ringing. I grabbed for the rod, and tugged on it. Meh. Just another magikarp. I tossed it back in the pond, and sighed. I casted the line again and went back to the tree. Maybe the legendary Pokémon was a magikarp? I laughed to myself. That would be my luck.

I looked up at the sky, to try and judge the time because I didn't feel like getting my pokégear and checking the time. It seemed to be around noon, I guessed. My stomach growled. I did have a tamato Berry sandwich, but I wanted to save it for later.

An hour or so passed before the bell rang again, and I rushed over to the rod. I yanked on it, and felt a huge weight on the end of the line. I reeled it in excitedly, enjoying the fight, and hoping that the Pokémon was the legendary. A huge shape emerged from the waster, and I realized. . . that it was another magikarp. Of course. But this one was the biggest one that I had ever seen. I hefted it back into the pond, wondering where all of these Pokémon were coming from. I mean, it wasn't that big of a pond, but it was deeper than I could tell.

I cast my line yet again and relaxed for a bit. The sun was beating down, and I was trying my hardest to not doze off. I guess I did, though, because I was woke up by a shout of alarm. I snapped to attention, and I looked around for the person. I saw somebody dangling from the cliff path above the canyon. I grabbed by bag and dashed up a golem trench to get up there.

"Hey, hold on," I shouted.

The guy glared at me. "I don't need you to tell me that."

I tossed down an escape rope, and he grabbed it and hauled himself up.

"You alright?" I asked, concerned.

He brushed off his clothes, still glaring. His red eyes tore into my soul like burning metal, as cliché as that is. His hair matched, it was a flaming red. He stayed silent.

"So, uhm, Where you heading?" I asked, a bit put off.

"That's none of your business," he said, stomping off.

I just stood there, like a dope, dumbfounded. He turned around.

"What are _you_ staring at?" he growled.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I changed my mind and just shrugged. I slid back down the golem groove and realized that there was a Pokémon on the line. I snatched the rod, and began to reel it in. This time it was really light, so I figured that it was a baby magikarp.

Well, it wasn't. It was a blue wriggly thing, about three feet long. I picked it up, and detached the hook. I rummaged through my bag for a pokéball. I belatedly realized that I didn't have one. I sighed. At least it didn't seem like it was going anywhere. I patted it on its head, and it squeaked at me. I decided that I would keep it, I mean, it was the first non-magikarp that I had caught.

"Awwww, " I said, "You're so cute. You must be a baby."

It bumped my hand with its silver nose and squeaked again. It dawned on me that it might be hungry or something. I pulled out my sandwich, offering it to the Pokémon.

It took a bite out of it, tasting it, I guess, then it bolted the rest down quickly.

"Wow, someone must've been hungry." I laughed. It curled up in my lap and started purring like a skitty. Now that it was drying off, I found that it wasn't very slimy like I thought it was going to be. It had fins or something on the side of its face, too. I first thought they were like gills or whatever, but I guess I was wrong.

"I wonder what you are, any way?" I contemplated, "I've never seen anything like you before." _Maybe Professor Elm will know, _I thought, _he does know a lot about Pokémon, after all. _I smiled at the Pokémon, wondering why it was just sitting there. Most wild Pokémon would've ran or attacked me by now. I petted it, noticing that I could feel its ribs. _That's why it likes me, the poor thing's starving. _It licked my hand, looking up at me with sad little eyes.

I sighed. "You're still hungry?" I draped it over my shoulders and I made my way home, so I could feed it. I got home ten minutes later, my dad still at the post, smiling.

"Hey Crissy, what do you have there?" he asked, "It looks strange."

I laughed. "It's my new Pokémon, isn't it cute?" I put it down on the counter, and my dad inspected it.

"I've never seen that kind before," my dad said, poking at it, "Do you know what it is?" It squeaked at him and slithered back over to me.

I shook my head, "Nope." I picked it back up, patting its head, "I was hoping the professor would, though."

My dad nodded, "I bet you he will." He leaned over and ruffled my hair. "So I guess you're going on a journey, then?" He sighed. "I knew you were going to sometime, but still. . . . You'd better call me, Crys." Ack, the second hated nickname.

"'Course I will Dad, I'll call you a ton." I smiled at him halfheartedly. I knew that it was killing him to let me go.

He smiled at me though, surprising me. "You better go get cleaned up and packed, hon." _Wow, he didn't call me Crissy or Crys._

I went upstairs, to the kitchen area first. I put the Pokémon down on the counter. "What do you want to eat?" I asked it, not caring that it couldn't talk back.

I went through the fridge, grabbing a few berries. "How about these?" I sat the berries down in front of it, and it gobbled them down. I smiled brightly at it, then I took it into my room so that I could get ready. I took a quick shower, then I put on my "Trainer outfit" that consisted of a red shirt, with a white jacket and yellow jogging shorts accented with green. There was also a white hat/beanie/thing. My mom bought me like five sets of the outfit before she left. I packed them all. My mom had really wanted me to be a Trainer. _I guess I'm doing what you want Mom, finally. _

I left, after saying goodbye to my dad, heading towards New Bark. It was only like a five minute walk. It was a small town, and I spotted the town as soon as I got there, and I made a beeline towards it. As I entered, I saw a man talking with two other kids my age. I assumed he was the professor, since he seemed like a absentminded scientist to me. They seemed to be talking about something important.

"Hello?" I asked, "Are you the professor?"

He turned. "Why yes, I am."

The two kids turned too. The girl looked creepily like me, and she seemed a little weirded out, too. Instead of her hair being blue, though, it was brown. It was in the same style, though, and she was wearing different clothes, but it was still crazy.

The other kid, a guy, looked pretty normal. He had dark hair and a ball cap. He didn't seem wierded out, and neither did the professor.

"Do you know what kind of Pokémon this is?" I asked the professor, holding it out to him.

After a few minutes, he finally spoke. "Why yes, I think that it's a dratini." He took it out of my hands, and looked at it closer. "I'd say it is a young female. Very malnourished." He handed her back to me, because she was getting antsy.

"N-no, I didn't do anything, I just found it," I stuttered.

"This is a very rare Pokémon, you know. Worth a lot of money," he told me. I didn't like his tone of voice.

"Really?" I asked curiously, "How much?"

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. "Did you steal it?" he asked me.

I couldn't talk, the words just wouldn't come out. I finally managed to utter a "N-n-no."

"Really? Because yesterday, we had a report of a missing dratini from Blackthorn." He said.

I had a burst of inspiration, I had found a hole in his plan. "Well, if it went missing yesterday, how could it be malnourished?"

"Dragon Pokemon, especially young ones, can starve to death within seven hours."

Oh, great. Just my luck. I backed up a little, readying my escape.

"Gold, Lyra, help me." the professor said. The three of them turned on me, and I took another step back. There was a loud shattering of glass, and they spun towards the noise. I took that opportunity to run like hell. The dratini had itself wrapped around my neck, squeezing painfully, and I had to stop. I pried her off of my neck, gasping for air.

"Arceus!" I swore, "You trying to kill me?" I put her in my bag, with her head sticking out, and went back to running. I heard yelling and shouts from behind me. _Fuck, I am so screwed! _I though frantically , looking behind me every few steps.

Eventually, I ran out of steam and stopped, at the entrance to Cherrygrove City, in a little alcove. I stood there gasping for air for a minute when a person, also running like hell, dashed into the clearing with me. It was the red-headed kid from earlier.

"You again?" He sneered. "I don't need a wimp like you around." He saw my dratini on my shoulder.

"What in the hell is that thing?"

"She's my Pokémon," I told him, proudly.

He laughed. "That thing looks pretty pathetic to me."

"Whatever." I glared at him. _What a mean and nasty person._

I heard a shout, and those kids ran into the clearing.

"Oh! Lyra, I told you they were working together!" the boy, who I assumed was Gold, said loudly.

"Wait, what?" I asked, confused.

Red-head grinned at them. "My name's Silver, and I'm going to be the best damn trainer the world's ever seen." He sent out a totodile.

Gold's eyes narrowed. "Oh, so that's the way you want to play, huh?" He sent out a cyndaquil while the girl sent out a chikorita.

_Well, I guess it's my turn. . . Or I could just run. . . . _The dratini looked up at me, with eager eyes.

Silver glared at me. "I can take care of myself," he snapped.

"But two on one's not very fair," I pointed out. "Okay, let's go." I told the Pokémon, she squeaked happily and got into battle position. _Man, I really need to come up with a name for this pipsqueak,_ I thought.

"Ok, Fern, use Tackle!" Lyra yelled, and the chikorita slammed into my dratini. I winced.

Right about then, I realized that I had no idea what kind of moves it would know. I thought quickly, remembering the tight grasp that it had on my neck earlier. _Wasn't that a move? If only I can remember. . ._ When I remembered it, I shouted it out, on accident. "Wrap!" The dratini lunged towards the chikorita, and she clung to it with all of her strength.

Silver and Gold were in their own little mini-universe, with Gold calling out random names and Silver staying silent, except when he issued a command.

"Fern, use Tackle again!" the girl cried, and it listened. It began slamming itself into the ground, with dratini, hurting both of them. I was praying that dratini could hold out. She looked like she was running out of steam.

"dratini. . . Let go!" I yelled to her. The chikorita slammed itself into her one last time before she fainted. I ran over to her. I picked her up, and breathed a sigh of relief. She stared up at me with sad eyes. "It's alright honey, you tried."

Lyra looked at me. "You really care about that thing, don't you?"

I looked away, towards the town, and noticed that there was a crowd of people gathered around. I heard Gold yelling triumphantly, he must have won or something.

I felt a hand grab my wrist, and I was half dragged into the woods. I realized that it was Silver. I ran along with him until we stopped at a clearing. He let go of my wrist quickly, and sat down under a tree, gasping.

I was breathing hard too, and I didn't even bother to walk to a tree. "Thanks," I told him.

He glared at me. "I don't care."

"My name's Crystal, by the way." I said. I think it was a sad attempt to make conversation.

"You already know my name, so I don't care about yours." he said, sending out his totodile.

I shivered. _Arceus, this guy's cold. _That was further proven by his next words.

"You worthless Pokémon." I looked up. He was towering over the poor totodile, who was almost unconscious. It almost tore my heart in two. "You lost, so you are useless."

"It's not useless," I said, in its defense, "It just needs some love and care."

"Love and care?" He scoffed. "I knew you were just some bleeding heart. No, this _thing _needs training. Enough training to make this thing worth more than a piece of garbage."

"Well, you can't do much training if the poor thing's fainted!" I yelled.

"Who do you think you are, anyway?" He snapped at me. He looked like he was going to come over there and kill me.

"I'm just trying to help! Geeze." I said, trying to smooth ruffled feathers.

"Well don't. I can take care of myself." He turned, back to his totodile.

I walked over to a tree and sat down, right into a clump of a bitter smelling plant. _Of course,_ I thought woefully, _I have to sit in a patch of Revival Herb-Wait! Revival Herb?_ I smiled. Listening to crazy old grandma finally helped. She may have been wrong about eating nomel Berries, but. . . . "Today must be my lucky day!"

I heard Silver laugh. "Really now? Getting chased by twerps and cops is lucky?"

"No, I found some Revival Herb." I said proudly. I picked as much as I could and wrapped it into a bundle. I put it in my bag, safe and sound. "Do you want some?" I asked my dratini, "It'll be bitter. . ." She looked out of sorts, so I just gave her some anyway. She made a face at me, but she felt better. She didn't seem too mad, either.

I got up the courage to walk over to Silver. "Do you need some?" I asked, ready to run off.

"Yeah, whatever." He snatched what I offered him out of my hand, and I shrugged to myself.

I sat back down, petting the dratini, trying to think of a name. I thought of a bunch of random nouns and I settled on Myst. "It's because you're bluish gray, and it sounds all magical and stuff." I told her, "Do you like it?" She didn't answer, so I poked her. She was sleeping.

I laughed. "Myst it is, then."

There was a peaceable silence for a few minutes before Silver broke it. "Why are you still here, wimp?"

"I'm just relaxing for a bit before I head out to Violet." I said.

"Is that where the gym is? Oh, who am I kidding? I doubt _you'd _know." He was baiting me, with a smirk, too.

"Yeah, I do know, actually," I said, falling for the bait, "It's Falkner's Gym, and I'm going to challenge it!" Wait, challenge it? Where did that come from? I wasn't planning on challenging any gyms, but I guess I did need something to do.

He burst out laughing, the bastard. "You, challenge a gym? Ha! That's rich."

"Oh yeah? I'll prove it!" I said, crossing my arms, "I'll beat every damn gym in Johto just to prove you wrong!"

His laughing faded away. "Yeah, I'd like to see that. I bet you couldn't even beat one if they let you."

I stood up and stomped off, Myst on my shoulder, in the direction of Violet City.

"Where are you going?" He said, walking up after me.

"I'm going to Violet City, duh." I glared over at him. "I'm going to totally prove you wrong."

He walked next to me in silence. I sighed, predicting that I was going to regret this. "So, what do you want if you win the wager?"

"I'll think about it," he said curtly.

A few minutes later, I spoke again. "Well, don't you wonder what will happen if you lose?"

"I never lose, girl." He smirked at me.


	2. Chapter 2: A Long Night

**Tamah: Thank you so much for the reviews and everything! They really brightened up my day :3**

**I hope you all like this chapter.**

* * *

We arrived at a road, and my pokégear told me that it was Route 30. There was a house with a oran berry tree next to it, so I decided to. . . borrow some. Myst ate every berry off of that tree, but she didn't feel any heavier, which I thought was weird. I figured that it was yet another of Myst's quirks.

"Are you done feeding that worm yet?" Silver said impatiently, leaning against the house.

I answered him with a glare, and kept picking berries for her. "Why don't you just leave, then?"

He didn't answer, but he didn't leave either. _Why is he staying, anyway? Is he going to follow me to every gym? _I thought, sighing.

I did another once over around the tree, confident that I got them all. "Okay, I'm done." I said, hefting Myst back up on my shoulder, "We can go now."

"It's about damn time," Silver muttered, and he started speed-walking up the road that I didn't notice was there. I ran to catch up.

"What was that for?" I asked angrily. He answered me with a stare. _Bastard._

There was a sound in the bushes. I looked around. "Did you hear that?"

"No, your tiny brain must have imagined it." he said, "Now shut up."

I shrugged and kept walking. It was probably a pokémon or something. Or maybe I was just tired. I did have a strange day.

I heard rustling again and I stopped. I turned to the bushed behind me and two kids popped out. They were youngsters, usually annoying little boys. I wondered if these two would be annoying. "Aha!" one of them shouted, "You have pokémon! You can't say no to our challenge!" Yep. They were going to be very annoying.

Silver turned, grinning. "Fresh blood." He said, a little loudly. Okay, that was creepy. Really creepy.

The quiet one looked terrified. Maybe it was because of Silver. I didn't doubt it. I smiled at him, to try to make him feel better. His friend laughed at me. "Heh, Joey, you take Cootie-breath over there. I'll take 'Fresh Blood' over here." he said, gesturing to Silver.

_Cootie-breath? Really? _I laughed. The kid- Joey, I mean, moved in my direction a little bit. "I-I'm not very good at this yet," he stammered. He pulled out a pokéball.

I shrugged. "Neither am I. I'm Crystal, by the way." I poked Myst, and she slid to the ground.

"What i-is that thing?" He asked, curious. His terror seemed to subside when his friend left.

"It's a dratini." I said, "It's rare."

He released a rattata from the ball. I smiled in relief. _He should be easy. _"D-d-do your best, Ratty."

"Okay, Myst, Wrap!" I hollered. She slid over to the rattata and squeezed it tightly. _Please don't use Tackle, please don't use Tackle. . . ._

"Ratty, use Tackle!" Joey said, "Slam i-it into the g-ground. . ."

_Damn. _It was pulling the same trick from earlier. "Myst, pull back!" She looked back at me and retreated. I sighed. What else could a little dragon know?

"Do you know any other moves or something?" I asked Myst, in desperation. I heard a snicker, and I knew that it was Silver.

"Did your mom drop you on your head or something? It isn't going to answer." He was leaning against a tree, his battle already won. "Damn bleeding heart."

I flipped him off, and turned back to Myst. She was looking at me like I was insane, too. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"

She turned back to the rattata and wrapped herself around it again. "Well, I guess you don't know anything else."

Myst's eyes were shut, and she wasn't wrapped around the rattata very tightly. "What in the hell are you doing?" I asked her.

"Ratty, u-u-use Tackle again." Joey said. The rattata carried out its attack, ramming itself into Myst again.

Myst didn't move at all. I was starting to get a little freaked out. The path grew quiet as Joey and I both stared at the little dragon.

All of a sudden, there was a flash, and Joey and I both jumped up in shock. Myst's eyes were open again, and she looked back at me. The rattata seemed okay, too. _Weird. _

"Ratty? Y-you okay? Use Tackle again." Joey said, smiling weakly at the mouse.

Ratty tried to lunge forward, but it couldn't move. "W-what's wrong, Ratty?" Joey ran over to his Pokémon, and I felt a cold feeling of guilt sweep through me.

Silver snorted. "Don't you wimps know what paralysis is? Fucking idiots, all of you." Joey nodded and took a few steps back.

The kid Silver fought earlier gasped. "Ooooh, you said a cuss word!"

His eyes narrowed at the kid. "Fuck off."

I decided it would be a good idea to ignore them. "Myst, use Wrap again!"

She pounced on the rattata again, squeezing for dear life. Within a few more turns, it fainted.

I smiled at her. "Good job, Myst! You did it!" I picked her up and patted her head. I looked at Joey. "Hey, is your Pokémon okay?"

He nodded. "We'll just get Ratty to a Pokémon Center."

I pulled a few leaves of the Revival Herb out. "Here, take some. It'll revive your rattata."

He took it happily. "Thanks a bunch! Wanna swap pokégear numbers?"

I nodded, and we filled each other in.

"C'mon, we don't have all damn day, so wrap up your little quilting circle and let's fucking go!" Silver yelled.

"Arceus! Don't get your panties in a twist. . . Well, bye." I waved to Joey and walked back towards Silver.

Joey ran up to me and pressed something in my hand. "Hey, Crystal. . . T-t-thanks for the Revival Herb. I want you to have this." He walked back over to his friend. He had given me a pokéball. I smiled at him in thanks.

"Thanks, kid. Well, I think I should be going now. . . " I said, casting a look over at Silver.

"It's about damn time." Silver muttered.

"Ooooh, you keep cussing!" the other kid said.

He turned to the kid, glaring. "Mind your own damn business." The kid took a few steps back. "That's what I thought, wimp."

I realized that he was just trying to piss the little kid off. Of course. Why wasn't I surprised that he'd pick on kids?

"Mikey, come on!" Joey pleaded, "Let's go."

"No way, I'm not scared of this kid! He's just a wimp!" Mikey said, full of bravado.

_Oh boy, this is not going to end well. . . . _I thought, pulling Myst into a safer position around my neck.

Silver just stood there, glaring, which scared Mikey off. Joey waved at me and followed his friend. "Let's just fucking go. I just want to fucking get to Violet." He turned around and stomped off. I stayed a few steps behind him, just in case.

The sun had set during the battle, and twilight was all around. I could hear the hoothoot in the pine trees calling to each other sleepily. It added a haunting tone to the route. _It is a pretty route, _I thought, _with the pine trees towering over us like this, and the dim light casting shadows._

As we walked, my mind wandered. _I wonder how mom's doing? Did the professor know my name and spread the word around? I hope not. Dad would murder me. _I sighed. Then I thought about what I was going to do with Myst, I mean I couldn't just keep carrying her around like I did. But, I did like having her around, and in my mind, I was her 'mommy.' I couldn't just throw her into a pokéball for some reason. I mean, she adored me already, where usually it would take forever for a pokémon to like you. I thought that it was pretty weird that she clung to me, though.

I would have to ask the Violet nurse to tell me why Myst hadn't been gaining any weight. She was longer than my arm, but she weighed less than a bag of sitrus berries. I mean, isn't there something wrong with that? I heard purring, and I realized that I had been petting her. She licked my hand with her weirdly smooth tongue, and I definitely decided that she wasn't going into a pokéball. She was just too cute. . . . I sighed. When did I become such a sucker?

The moon was pretty high in the sky when Silver stopped in front of a pond with a berry tree. "We're camping here tonight," he commanded, then he went into the woods again. We reached a clearing about fifteen feet from the edge of the forest.

_Geeze, who died and made him lord of the camp? _I laughed at the double meaning, and I imagined Silver dressed up in drag. I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it. . . .

"What's your problem?" Silver glared at me, "Oh yeah, that's right. Every fucking thing."

"Fuck you." I snapped.

He laughed. "Not in a million years."

I rolled my eyes, and got to work making my side of the clearing livable. Then I decided to go to the berry tree and tried to feed Myst, but she didn't want any of the berries. When I got back I arranged my sleeping bag and sat on it.

Silver had built a fire in between our sleeping bags, and he met my eyes as I looked at him.

"What do you want?" he asked. He was staring into my eyes, and I'll admit it was unnerving. He had a glare to make an arbok jealous.

I shrugged. "Nothing, I guess." I hastily pulled out my pokégear and checked the map. "There's a cave nearby, it's called Dark Cave."

He didn't answer. I sighed. _Well, there goes my attempt at a civil conversation. Hey, I tried. . . . _I took off my hat and undid my pigtails. I glanced around for Myst, and I found her in a nest of leaves, sound asleep. I smiled and walked over to the pond so I could wash my face. The water was murky and warm, but I could see a few magikarp and some non-Pokémon fish swimming in the water. I was tempted to get my Super Rod and try out the pond, since I didn't get a chance to try the ocean at Cherrygrove, and hey, I did have a pokéball now.

I yawned. I felt like I was about to fall over. _Well, there's always tomorrow. _I trudged back to my sleeping bag and despite the hard ground, I fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

I felt something tickly on my face, and my hand tried to brush whatever it was away. My eyes snapped open, and I was face-to-face with a spinarak. Panic swept over me in an instant, but I managed to suppress it. I inched my way out of the sleeping bag and looked around for Myst. I found her, and poked her awake. "Myst, come on."

She opened her eyes groggily , and I pointed to the spinarak. "Use that stunning thing you used earlier," I whispered, "please?"

She slithered over to the spinarak and sent a shock its way. It jumped on Myst, and spit a String Shot all over her, tangling both of them up. "Myst, use Wrap!" I said, louder.

She squeaked and Wrapped herself around it tightly. It was almost comical to see the spinarak's legs squirm. . . . Almost.

"Okay, Myst, turn loose so I can catch it!" Myst pulled back as far as she could. I couldn't help but impersonate Ash Ketchum, that cartoon character, you know the one. "Pokéball, go!" I yelled, and threw it.

It hit the spinarak with a thud, and it vanished with a flash of red light, taking the sticky goop with it. _Well, looks like I have to improve my aim. _I watched the ball eagerly as it shook once. . .

Twice. . . .

Three times. . . .

And the red light flashed, meaning that the Pokémon had given up. I laughed happily, picking up Myst and whirling her around in a circle. "We did it!" I Sat Myst down, and tapped the semi-transparent top of the ball, where the spinarak glowered at me with burning eyes of hate. "Ha, you're mine now, you little creeper. Hey, Creeper. That sounds like a good enough name, right, Myst?" Well, it was somewhere around three in the morning, so I wasn't all there, I guess.

Silver laughed. I hadn't even thought about him until then, and I looked over at him. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough." He smirked at me. "And I didn't think you could get any stupider."

I was too happy to get angry at him, so I just smiled at him sweetly and went back to sleep.

* * *

I felt a light pain in my side. "Wake the hell up."

I woke up to find Silver towering over me.

"What the fuck was that for?" I asked angrily. He must have kicked me in the side. What a wonderful way to start the morning, isn't it?

"I didn't kick you that hard, wimp." He sneered down at me, and I glared up at him. I sat up, and looked around for Myst. "Where's Myst at?" I asked Silver, with a pang of worry. _What if she left me? _

"It probably realized what a shitty trainer you are," was Silver's reply. My Mew, did I want to smack him.

I climbed out of my sleeping bag, and looked around for her. I walked to the pond, hoping that she was swimming in the pond or something.

Her head popped out of the water, with a fish in her jaws. She bee-lined towards me, and laid the fish at my feet, like a proud skitty. She seemed bigger, and as I peered into the water, I could see a shed skin that was definitely hers. I washed my face and lifted her up on my shoulder. She still didn't seem any heavier, but now her tail dangled. I picked up the fish, too, and took it back to the campfire.

"Myst caught us some fish." I said to Silver, who had the fire going again. He looked at me with a strange expression for a minute, before it went back to his normal smug-ass look.

"Well, then, get cooking."

I muttered something not so nice, and went looking for some sticks that I could use as a spit. I found a few and soon, the smell of fish was wafting through the morning air. I also found a few patches of Energy Herbs. They were bitter, but the roots worked amazingly well. When I got back, I told Myst to go and get a couple more fish for us to eat, and she did happily.

Silver snatched the first fish and ate it quickly.

"I was going to give that one to you, you know." I said.

"It tasted terrible."

"Yes, well, I don't care. You ate it." I said back. I speared the next fish on the stick and stuck it over the fire. I wasn't really in the mood for his shit today. I laughed to myself. It almost felt like I knew the bastard for a few years already, and it hadn't even been a day yet. I realized that this was going to be one long trip if he didn't leave soon.

_Why is he following me, anyway? _I contemplated, watching the sparks dance in the fire, _I mean, is the bet that important to him or something? Nah. . . . Maybe he likes having a captive wailing wall. . . Oh why did I have to open my big mouth?_

I ate my fish in silence. It didn't taste all that bad, but it did have a muddy hint in there. Myst came back with another fish, and I patted her head. "Good girl."

"How do you expect that thing to ever battle right if you fucking baby it all the time?" Silver asked suddenly.

I shrugged. "She'll learn."

He turned away angrily. "I hate stupid goody-goodys like you. You think you're so strong with your love power or whatever the fuck you call it."

I laughed. "Love power?"

"It's for people like me to wipe out the weak. And I will, I'll wipe all of you out!"

I yawned. "Yeah, you do that." I was getting really sick of him by now. I gave the last fish to Myst, who swallowed it in one gulp. "How's your totodile holding up?

He glared. "Pokémon inside pokéballs don't need to eat, stupid."

"I know! I meant does have any injuries?" I asked, exasperated. "I found some energy root over there."

"Where in the hell do you keep getting this shit?" He asked.

"My grandma is a healer in Blackthorn." I said, proudly, "She taught me a lot."

"Yeah, that's great, I don't care." He sent out his totodile, and gave it a shove towards me. It waddled over to me. I showed it the root, and it grimaced, but it opened it's mouth anyway and ate it. Tears welled up in it's eyes from the bitterness, and I patted it sympathetically. Energy Root was crazy old grandma's cure for the cold and flu, so I knew exactly how bad it was.

"You are such a wimp." Silver muttered as he returned it.

"Do you want some?" I asked sweetly.

"We're going to that cave today," he announced, changing the subject, "It'll be good training for the useless thing." He pocketed the pokéball. "Time to go."

We packed up the camp, and headed towards the cave. "Ladies first," Silver smirked.

I walked into the cave. It was, well, dark. "I don't think we'll get too far without Flash." I took a few more steps before I stopped.

"Nonsense. Your wimpy eyes just can't see." He stepped in the cave. I could hear his footsteps go deeper in the cave.

I followed him for a few minutes before Silver cursed. "Why did you tell me about this fucking cave if you need Flash?"

"I'm not psychic." I said in my defense.

"Well, let's get the fuck out of here." Silver said. I could tell he was getting frustrated. There was a thump as (I assumed) he fell over.

"Are you okay?" I asked, "Where are you?"

"I don't need your help." He snapped.

"I just don't want to trip too- Oof." I had tripped too, of course. Myst let out a frightened squeak. "It's okay, Myst." I pulled myself up. "So how do you suppose we get out? Did you bring a flashlight?" I know I didn't, and it was dumb of me. More like stupid.

"Don't you think I'd be using it?" He said, "Dumbass."

I tried to feel my way to the entrance, but no dice. I kept at it, though, and eventually I heard Silver's sound of triumph. Fuck. He was probably going to ditch me there. "Hey?" I called, meekly.

"What?" He asked, a smug note in his voice.

"Can you help me get out? I'm lost." I asked, swallowing my pride.

"No." He replied.

"Silver, please?" I hated how my voice was starting to sound, but I have a fear of getting stuck in places. I remember, when I was ten I had a panic attack because I couldn't get out of my old hiding place. I guess that means I'm claustrophobic or something. "Please help me."

I didn't hear anything for a while, and I was starting to panic.

"Come on." I heard Silver say, without his usual venom. He grabbed my arm roughly, though, and yanked me out of the cave.

"T-thank you." I said quietly. _Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. . . ._

"Hmph. How else am I supposed to get to Violet?" He said, mockingly.

_Or, of course, he could really be a massive prick._


	3. Chapter 3: Boo

**Tamah: Whoo, I finally wrote it. I think my inner author isn't letting me sleep until I publish it. Hour forty-five and counting -_- Or maybe it's that four liters of Mountain Dew I drank. . . ? Yeah, I could come up with all sorts of excuses. . . but. . . meh. I've just been lazy. But, on a brighter note, thanks to everyone who bothered to story-alert, favorite or review this story. And to all of you people who bothered to read it. :3 **

* * *

We arrived at Violet City after a nice walk. A few pokémon ambushed us, but Silver had to be a battle hog and beat them all. I wanted to try Creeper out, see what s/he could do, but no, Mr. Hotshot murdered them before I had a chance. And I'm not exaggerating, either.

I liked Violet City as soon as I saw it. It's one of those traditional towns, and it had a nice feel to it. Myst seemed to enjoy it, too. She slid down from my shoulders and poked around, but at the same time she would constantly look up at me. I guess it was to make sure I was still there or something. I thought it was adorable.

I saw a pokémon center ahead. "Hey, Silver, do you think we could heal our pokémon at the center?" I asked, worriedly. Who knew if the nurse would call the police or something? It also made me wonder, were the police even after us?

He shrugged. "Why don't you go find out? I won't visit."

I looked at him, confused. "Uh, what? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I won't visit you in jail, moron," he said, smirking. "Still wanna find out?"

I rolled my eyes. "It would be a nice vacation. . . Besides, you're the one whose pokémon need healing." So there. A worrisome thought struck me. "Also, where else are we gonna find a place to stay for free? I'm not exactly rolling in cash."

"Hell if I know, you can sleep outside for all I care." Silver said, "It's your choice."

"Hmph. Fine, I'm going in there." I picked up Myst and walked inside the pokémon center. There was a line of mostly younger kids in front of me, yet I was the one earning snickers and the whispers of 'rookie.' I tried to ignore them, but I felt self-conscious anyway. I looked down, a slight blush on my cheeks, hoping the brats would stop staring.

I was also hoping that everything would go smoothly. You know, who'd have thought being an accused felon would be so damn paranoia-inducing? I took a deep breath. It was my turn. I stepped up to the counter and handed the attendant Myst before rummaging through my bag for Creeper's pokéball.

"She doesn't have a pokéball," I said softly, avoiding looking into her eyes.

"It's all right," the nurse said cheerfully. She grabbed a hold of Myst and the little dragon squealed loudly and tried to wriggle away.

My face turned bright red and I tried to calm her down. "Shush," I said, reaching out to pat the top of her head. She looked at me with her big dark eyes with an expression that practically screamed "I don't wanna get taken away!" But she shut up and let the attendant heal her. She smiled at me warmly as she handed me Myst and Creeper's pokéball. Myst slid over my arm and she latched onto me with lightning speed. "Is she okay?" I asked the nurse, still embarrassed.

"Yes, of course. She's perfectly healthy," the nurse assured me, "The computer says she's perfectly fine."

I nodded. "Thank you so much," I said, smiling back, even though I was kind of hoping for someone with first-hand experience or something instead of a computer. I slipped Creeper's pokéball back into my bag.

"You're welcome, honey. And don't worry," she added in a whisper, "You won't be a rookie for long."

I blushed again. I nodded again and headed out the door. I bumped into someone outside. "Oh, I'm sorry!" I said quickly. Oh, wait, it was just Silver.

"You'd better be sorry. Better watch where you're going next time," he snapped, "You can't expect me to be so nice forever." He was quiet for a second. "So, did it work, or what?"

I looked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just fine." I said, "I told you it would be okay."

"Yeah, whatever. Listen. I don't care about what you do, but I'm going somewhere to be alone after this. Got it?" he asked. "_Alone._ But don't think you can just skip town and break our wager."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't dream of it," I said sweetly, fluttering my eyelashes for extra effect. He glared at me, and I walked off, excited to have a little time to myself. I walked around town for a while.

I was in heaven when I spotted the lake. I pulled out my Super Rod and fished for a little bit. I felt calm and at peace. Myst was swimming in the water, having fun as well. I didn't catch many pokémon, mostly just fish, and since Myst was having fun I just let the pokémon that I caught go. It was just a few poliwag, anyway.

After an hour had passed, I figured that it was time to move on, so I called Myst back and walked through the rest of the city. It wasn't that large of a city, surprisingly. I walked past the Gym a couple of times, and it made me nervous just to look at it.

I eventually made it to a tall tower. A handy sign next to it told me that it was called Sprout Tower. As I was reading it, I heard someone run up next to me.

"There you are," Silver said. "I thought you chickened out."

I shook my head. "Nope. What's got your panties in a twist?" I looked over at him.

"I now have a pokémon that's not weak," he proclaimed, pulling out a pokéball for me to see. I peered in through the top of the ball and a zubat looked up at me.

"Ah, that's neat. Where'd you catch it?" I asked, curiously, because after all, didn't zubat come out at night?

He sneered. "Who says I caught it?"

"No way, you didn't. . . " He wouldn't, would he? Then again, it is Silver. . . .

"Uh, duh. Where do you think I got my other one, as useless as it turned out to be. I also went shopping." I pitied the poor kid he doubtlessly shook down. I also wasn't surprised he stole the totodile. After all, wasn't that why the dynamic duo was after him in the first place?

"That's nice," I told him, "Did you take candy from some babies, too?"

He laughed. "I was going to share it with you, you know."

I rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Hey, you guys!" a kid shouted, running up to us.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Is this Sprout Tower?" he asked. He looked like he was a rookie, too, one of the ten year old ones.

I was about to reply when Silver spoke up. "Well, no shit, Sherlock. What other fucking towers are around here? The Dumbfuck Tower?" I glared at Silver, while the kid looked like he was about to cry. He ran off. Silver chuckled. "Wimp."

I crossed my arms. "That was terrible," I told him.

"So? Why should I care? You're as weak as he is." Silver said back, "And I don't listen to whiny-ass bleeding hearts like you."

I went back to reading the sign. "It says here that trainers gather to battle in the tower," I said, half to myself. "Sounds like fun. I'm going to go inside and try."

"You need all the experience you can get if you want to get to my level." Silver said.

"Whatever," I said, walking inside. My eyes practically sparkled. The inside of the tower was so cool. There was a huge pillar in the center that actually moved side to side. "Wow," I said quietly, walking up to the pillar.

An older lady beamed at me. "They say that this pillar was a giant bellsprout." she told me.

"Wow, that's cool!" I exclaimed, looking from her back to the pillar. I'll admit, I'm a dork for legends. But really, who could blame me? Johto was full of cool old stories like that. My grandmother and her tales probably helped, too.

She nodded. "It protects the tower from earthquakes and even the fiercest of battles."

I looked around. "Battles?" All I saw around were tourists and monks.

"The battles are on the higher floors, dear." the woman told me.

"Okay, thank you for the story," I said, turning to head you the set of stairs I spotted.

"Oh, it was my pleasure. Have fun up there," she said with a chuckle.

Silver was right behind me as I climbed the stairs. "I hate it when you chit-chat." he told me once we were both on the second floor.

"Why? It's none of your business, really." I said, "I like talking to people."

"Well, you waste too much time," he said. "No wonder you're so weak."

A rattata scurried up to me. "This is mine," I said, pulling out Creeper's pokéball. "C'mon, Creeper!"

It appeared in a flash of light. It looked around before its beady eyes landed on me. It began to make a angry sounding clicking noise. I took a few steps back. "Uh. . . Creeper, use String Shot on the rattata!" I said.

It ignored me, which earned a laugh from Silver. "I think I like this one," he said.

"Creeper! Use string shot!" I said, impatiently. It turned towards the rattata and it let out a glob of sticky white thread. It got all over the rattata. But Creeper didn't stop there, it pounced on the poor thing and began to stab into it repeatedly with a poison sting attack, even after it fainted. "Creeper, stop!" I yelled, "Its already fainted!" it didn't stop, so I recalled it back into its pokéball. It slammed itself into the top of the ball a few times, baring its poisonous jaws at me. I threw the ball back into the bag. I probably wasn't going to use it for a long while. The white goo vanished with Creeper, and the rattata had made its escape.

"Wow, you really are pathetic." Silver said mockingly, "Your pokémon even know it. Well, the one that's not retarded, anyway."

I turned away from him. "Just stop." I said, the first hint of tears in my eyes. I took a few deep breaths and Myst nudged the side of my face. I stroked her head and started walking. I felt a little better. Silver was silent as he followed.

A monk was standing ahead, staring at us. When we got into range, he bowed. "I would like to battle you," he said warmly.

"I got this," Silver said, pushing me out of the way.

"All right, young man." He pulled out a ball, and sent out a bellsprout with one graceful motion. "Do your best, my friend."

Silver snickered. He sent out his new zubat. It looked at Silver, clearly confused. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get fighting!" he told it, and it reluctantly got into battle position.

The monk's expression was serious, now. "That is no way to-"

"Shut up," Silver snapped, "I didn't ask you for a damn sermon. Zubat, use Leech Life." he ordered coldly. Without hesitation, it swooped down and bit into the bellsprout.

"Use Vine whip," the monk said calmly. The bellsprout's vines slammed into the zubat, but it hardly did any damage.

"You need to learn your types, old man. Leech life again, and do more damage this time." The zubat flung itself at the bellsprout, doing more damage.

The battle continued on like that until the bellsprout had fainted. The monk patted its head and returned it. "You did well," he told it. He handed Silver a bit of money.

He walked away, and I stood there for a minute. What if Silver is right? I mean, he wins so easily. . . But. . .

The monk sighed. "Your friend seems to be getting impatient," he told me.

I sighed as well. "I don't care," I said, but I walked after him anyway.

"See? You won't get anywhere treating your pokémon nice," Silver said smugly, "You'll end up like that loser." We climbed up another staircase.

"I bet he's happy, though." I said. Well, he was until we crashed his day.

"I won't be happy until I'm the best," he assured me. "Until then, I'll be fucking miserable."

"Yeah," I said drily, "I noticed." There was another monk. "Hey, want to battle?" I asked, before Silver could.

He nodded slowly. "I love to. The spirit of battle flows through this place." The man sent out a bellsprout.

"Okay, Myst! We can do it, right?" She squeaked in agreement, and she slid down to the floor. "All right, use that one move, Thunder Wave!" Myst darted over to the bellsprout and sent an electrical pulse through it.

"Use Growth!" the monk said. The bellspout, well, grew. A lot, actually.

"Myst, use Wrap on it!" I said, and she wrapped around the pokémon tightly.

"Use Growth again," the monk said. The plant pokémon grew even larger.

"Keep at it, Myst!" I said. She looked at me for a second before wrapping herself around it tighter.

"Bellsprout, now use Vine whip, please." the monk said. It tried to move, but it just couldn't come up with the strength to.

Myst couldn't hold on anymore and she turned loose. "Be careful," I told her.

"Use Vine Whip." The bellsprout's leaves extended into vines and they slammed into Myst, slowly but it still did damage. She made an angry noise and pulled herself into a fighting stance.

"Use Wrap again!" I yelled, and she launched herself at the bellspout and squeezed for dear life. The bellsprout crumpled to the floor, she must have had a critical hit. I grinned. "Good job, Myst!" She let go of the other pokémon and slithered back over to me. I knelt down and gave her a hug. She licked my cheek.

I heard a fake gagging sound, and I turned my head. "What?" I demanded.

"I think you fucking gave me diabetes." Silver said.

I stuck out my tongue. "You need some sugar, that's for sure." I let go of Myst and faced the monk.

He smiled and handed me some money. "That was an enjoyable battle."

"Thank you," I told him, nodding. We continued along on our way, and went around a corner before I realized Myst probably needed some medicine.

I sat her down and fished out some Energy Herb. "I know it's awful," I told her, "but it'll make you feel better."

She winced but opened her mouth and swallowed it. She stuck out her tongue, but she still cuddled up to me.

"Are you fucking done yet?" Silver asked, leaning against a statue of a bellsprout, arms crossed. "I don't have all day."

I straightened up. "Why, do you have an appointment for tea with the emperor or something?" I asked.

"My business isn't any of yours." he said, standing up straight. The statue behind him tumbled and broke with a loud crash.

My eyes widened, and I went into panic mode. "Fuck fuck fuck! What are we going to do?"

"Nothing." he said, looking behind him at the mess, "We didn't do it, or at least I didn't."

I suddenly shivered. It was cold in there all of a sudden. "Hey, uh, do you feel that?"

He looked around. "Feel what? I don't feel anything. Fucking crazy-ass."

"It's cold in here." I complained, shivering. I pulled Myst into my arms and held her close.

"You're wearing a damn jacket!" he said, rolling his eyes. "Get a fucking grip." He glanced around quickly.

"You feel it too!" I accused him, "I'm not fucking crazy."

"You fucking spread your batshit insanity to me, dammit." he said, "Let's just fucking go." he pushed past me towards the stairs. I looked around, but I quickly followed him.

Call me crazy, but was it. . . Darker? "U-um. . . Silver?" I asked.

"What!" he yelled with an aggravated tone.

"Is it, uh, darker in here?"

"No, just fucking stop your shit and walk faster." he said. I almost ran into him as he stopped abruptly.

I peered around him, and choked back a scream. A huge set of red eyes floated in the air in front of us. I quickly jumped back a step and pulled him away with me.

"It's a ghost!" I said quickly, "This is your fault, dammit!"

He wrenched himself out of my grip and glared. "I know it's a fucking ghost, thanks for the newsflash. I'm going to catch it. It's only a gastly, you wimp."

I calmed down. "Oh." Well, I felt stupid. Still, it didn't look much like a gastly. He pulled out a pokéball and prepared to throw it at the ghost type.

"Um, don't you need to weaken it first?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Dumbass, I can't. My pokemon's moves won't fucking work," he said. It looked like an idea came to him. "But one of yours can."

I didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean?" I asked uneasily.

"Give me that stupid worm for a second," he said, "And make it snappy."

"No," I said firmly, "You're not getting near her!" I took a step back, but I was feeling brave. He was just a bully, right?

"I said give me," he said, leveling a fierce glare at me. I swallowed. My bravery evaporated. This guy sure was convincing.

"But. . . You're gonna hurt her!" I protested, "She's only a baby!"

"It'll only be for a fucking second!" he yelled, "What in the hell is wrong with you? It's not your damn baby, it's a fucking pokémon"

"I know that!" I shouted back. I was beginning to feel braver. "She's mine, and I told you no!" I squeezed her tightly, and she buried her head in my shoulder.

He looked like he was about to snap or something. His expression was beyond angry. I quickly realized that it was time for damage control. Major damage control.

"U-uhm, how about I tell her to use the move," I said weakly, "That'll work, right?"

He didn't say anything. I bit my lip nervously. The silence was more frightening than his yelling or his threats, if you could believe it. I let Myst down.

I waited for a minute before giving the command. "M-myst, use Thunder Wave." she nodded, and casting a wary glance at Silver herself before moving quickly towards the gastly. It seemed bigger, like it fed off of our negative emotions or something. I heard ghosts do that.

She looked at it, confused. She turned her head back to me , to see if I knew what to do. I didn't know, either. How were you supposed to paralyze a gas cloud?

It looked like Silver couldn't take it anymore. "You fucking retarded shit, just fucking do it!" he yelled loudly.

Myst visibly flinched, giving the gastly a perfect opportunity to attack. It somehow licked her with a ethereal tongue and she shook all over. She was the one paralyzed, for once. She managed to launch a Thunder Wave at the gastly. It was moving slower, somehow it worked.

Silver threw his pokéball at it, and it shook a full three times before there was a loud click. His anger seemed to fade a little bit, and he smirked.

I didn't really care about him at that moment, and I bolted over to Myst and pulled her into a protective embrace. "You did well, Myst." I said quietly. "Are you okay?" She licked me in response.

"Come on, what in the fuck are you waiting for? To get caught?" Silver asked, as if nothing happened.

I was pissed. He thinks he can order me around all the damn time, well, fuck him. He got Myst hurt. Stupid asshole.

He got fed up with me and dragged me up the stairs. He fought a few more monks, but again, I wasn't really paying attention.

"Hey, whiny-ass." Arceus. Can't he leave me alone? "Are you PMS-ing or something?" I ignored him. "Oh, I fucking get it, you're trying to give me the cold shoulder. Let's see how long this'll last." Yes, let's. We stood there, him glaring at me, while I was looking past him at the pillar.

The monks were looking at us oddly. I'm sure that it was a pretty funny scene to watch, but I sure didn't think so. I think it lasted ten minutes before he broke the silence.

"Here, take this damn thing and quit acting like that." he said, pressing a bottle into my hand. Parlyz heal. I looked at it with a surprised expression, then up at him. He had his normal pissy expression.

"It's Parlyz heal, dumbass." he snapped. Well, there went his nice streak.

"I know," I said. There was silence for another minute. "Thanks." I sprayed it on Myst and she perked up, almost like a wilted flower with water. Or something.

"Let's just get a move on. The fucking elder says he won't battle me alone." Of course. "And there's a prize."

I walked with him up to the elder. He was a balding man with white tufts of hair and a beard. His robes were yellow and green, like a bellsprout, I guess. "I see you convinced your friend to join us", he said nicely.

I nodded. "So you're the elder?" I asked, tilting my head. "You must know a lot of stories."

Silver groaned. "Cut the shit, we're here to battle, not to swap fucking cookie recipes."

I sighed. "As you wish, King Asshole."

He nodded. "And don't you fucking forget it." He sent out his new gastly. Him and that thing were one of a kind, that's for damn sure.

"I doubt I could," I said dryly. "Come on, Myst. Let's get this over with." She made an agreeing noise and dropped to the floor.

The elder looked at Myst curiously. He didn't say anything, though, and he sent out two pokémon, a hoothoot and a bellsprout (surprise.) I realized that this was my first actual tag team battle.

Silver looked over at me. "Okay, I know you're not that fucking stupid, so you should know that I can't attack the bird." I nodded. Hoothoot were part normal or something, and apparently I guess normal and ghost don't mix. "All right then. Gastly, use Lick on the bellsprout." The bellsprout took decent damage, but it looked like it could take plenty more.

"Hoothoot, use foresight on the gastly." the elder said.

Silver cursed. "Kill the damn thing quick."

"Myst, Thunder Wave!" I said. Sticking with the tried and true was a good plan. The hoothoot seemed unfazed.

"Bellsprout, growth." the elder said. The plant grew larger, ad so did its attack power. Or was it special attack? I wasn't one of the lucky bastards who had a pokédex to tell them everything.

"Use Lick again, now!" Silver yelled. The bellsprout didn't look like it could take much more.

"Hoothoot, tackle on the gastly, please." It comically hopped/fluttered over to the gastly and slammed itself into its body, somehow. It looked like it hurt the gastly pretty bad.

"Myst, use Wrap on the hoothoot," I said. The hoothoot fluttered into the air, so she missed.

"Bellsprout, now use Vine Whip on the dratini." Thick vines slammed into Myst, knocking her a few feet. I held back my anger. This was what happens in a battle, I kept telling myself.

"Finish the bellsprout off." Silver ordered. Gastly cackled with glee and closed in for the finishing blow.

"Hoothoot, tackle again." the elder said, and gastly couldn't take it, and it too fainted. Silver glared at the fallen ghost before returning it to its ball. He sent out his totodile next.

"Come on, Myst, use wrap! You can do it!" Myst managed to hit it, because the paralysis was acting up.

"Totodile, tackle." Silver ordered, and it moved to attack. It grunted something to Myst, who rolled around in response. It slammed into the hoothoot's weak spot, and it fainted. I grinned. "Great thinking you two!" I cheered, pulling both of them into a hug.

Silver cleared his throat behind me. I let go and stood up quickly."Quit babying my damn pokémon He's weak enough as it is."

The elder spoke. "No, it is you who are weak. Pokemon are not tools of war. They are friends and companions who choose to fight for you." Oh, burn.

Silver snorted. "Just shut up, I don't need to hear you blather on. What about that prize?"

The elder handed him a disc, and some money. He turned and walked towards me. He handed me money as well. He looked at Myst again. "They say dratini is a very lucky pokémon to have," he said. "Say, are you one of the Dragon Tamers?"

I shook my head. "No, sir, I'm not."

I heard a sort of familiar voice behind me. "No, she's a thief. They both are!" It was that Gold kid, from yesterday. Had it only been yesterday? That Lyra girl wasn't around. I wondered where she went.

"I'm not a-" I tried to say, but Silver jerked my arm. He had used an escape rope. I made sure Myst was secure and I climbed the rope for dear life.

We jumped down in front of the entrance. It was dark outside, and my pokégear told me it was ten at night. "Arceus, it's that late already?" I asked, yawning.

He shrugged. "We were in there a while, you did take your sweet-ass time."

"So, what did the Elder give you?" I asked.

"Hmph. It was just a retarded HM, Flash, I think."

I laughed. "Well, that would've been useful _yesterday_."

We made our way back to the pokémon center, where we signed in for rooms, and ate at the little kitchen area. I had a nice bowl of noodles from the microwave. I gave Myst some pokéchow. she didn't seem to like it much, so I snuck her some of my noodles.

"We're going to battle at the gym tomorrow." Silver declared.

"All right, whatever," I said with a shrug. I didn't really have anything else to do, I guess.

Since we signed in so late, we were shoved into a room with a few other trainers in a room with three bunk beds. They were all sleeping already. I raced to the bathroom first and took a long shower, while Myst slept in the bed. I changed into my pajamas and headed off to my bunk.

"You better not have used up all the hot water," Silver told me, "Or else I'll dump a cold bucket of water on you."

I shrugged. "You're the one under me." I climbed up the ladder, pushed Myst over a little, and settled into a nice sleep. Even though the bed sucked, and two of the kids snored.

Also, apparently I used up all the hot water.


	4. Chapter 4: I Saw the Writing on the Wall

**Tamah: I think I've put this up in record time. :3 Not much of an accomplishment, but oh well.**

* * *

We had finally done it, we had done something we could only barely imagine to be possible. . . . I smiled serenely at the surrounding people cheering our names, as we walked past the crowd and throu-

Splash!

My eyes snapped open quickly and I practically hit the ceiling in shock. I heard Silver's obnoxious laugh from below, the little bastard was cracking up.

But damn, that water was freezing. Myst licked my wet cheek and rubbed her fin-things against my arm.

I almost slipped down the ladder, and well, that didn't add to my morning cheer. "What in the hell was that for?" I screeched at him angrily.

He stopped laughing after a while and shot me a trademark glare. "Your prissy ass used all of the hot water."

I looked around, noticing the other trainers had left already. I wondered if Silver scared them off. I didn't doubt it.

I crossed my arms. "A girl needs her hot water," I told him, "Besides, a little cold water's not going to kill you." I rolled my eyes and sighed. I grabbed a change of clothes and other morning stuff, and I walked into the bathroom.

I came out of the bathroom, still feeling aggravated. It just didn't feel like a good day to me. Maybe I tied my pigtails too tight. At least I felt awake, that was probably the water's doing.

I packed up the rest of my stuff while Silver waited impatiently. "You're going to miss your little gym fight," he remarked, "I'm already sick of this fucking town."

I huffed. "Well, get over it," I snapped, "You should've woken me up earlier, then. Or hell, you could have just gone on without me."

"I plan on seeing this little wager through," he said simply. Yeah right, more like use me as a walking map. Or as cop-bait. I didn't really know what he was plotting, but I was sure I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Finally my bag was packed, Myst was wrapped around my torso- she had grown longer overnight- and we were almost ready to leave. We had to eat first.

The little cafeteria had more people in it than the night before, but they were mostly nurses and other adults fighting over the last cup of coffee. Or something, I wasn't really paying attention. They could've been fighting over a million yen or something.

I had a bowl of Knock-Off brand cereal (We Mimic the competition!) with some milk and oran berry juice. The kangaskan on the cereal box watched me with over-emotional, cartoony eyes. I ate half of the bowl and let Myst have the rest of it.

I think Silver had eggs or something. I was perfectly content with ignoring him for a while. The peace and quiet was amazing, I'll have you know.

After a while, we left the pokémon center and headed towards the pokémon gym. "Are you ready to lose?" Silver asked as we approached the formidable building.

I wiped my suddenly-sweaty palms on my shorts. "Nope," I said, "I'm, uh. . . " I gave up on trying to think up a comeback. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

We walked up to the doors, and I swear to Arceus, it was suddenly a good day. A paper was tacked to the door that read "Closed for cleaning, reopening on Monday." It was Sunday, so I wasn't in the clear for a long while, but at least I had a extra day.

"Son of a bitch," Silver hissed through clenched teeth, "I just want to fucking leave this shit town."

I sighed. "Well, I mean, at least we'll get a day of training in, or something."

"Let's just go," Silver said, "Mew knows you need training." He stomped away, heading west. I followed him at a safe distance, I sure didn't want to become his little target. I felt Myst clench slightly. I guess she could tell if he was aggravated or something.

We went through a route gate, and thankfully the man at the post didn't know my father, or maybe he couldn't tell. He didn't look familiar to me, at least. Silver kept going, until we arrived at a dead end. Nothing but trees. There was a weird-looking tree, though.

"Why have a path that goes nowhere?" I asked, pulling out my pokégear to check with the map. Well, apparently there was a road there. Somewhere. "This is. . . strange." I said, confused.

"I saw a building back there," Silver said, "Maybe the path's through there."

I shrugged. "I hope so. I've always wanted to visit Ecruteak."

So we turned around and headed towards the building that he saw. I was hoping that it would actually lead to Ecruteak, but I had a feeling it didn't. Well, it wasn't so much of a feeling as I knew, because the pokégear told me where it went. It went to the Ruins of Alph.

Now that was supposed to be a really cool place. Before I was born, my mother worked there with the other scientists studying the strange hieroglyphs on the walls. That was the reason why she went to Sinnoh, because there are the same kinds of hieroglyphs there.

So I wisely kept my mouth shut and let Silver lead. We went through the route gates, and apparently the guard recognized me.

"Hey, you're Dale's kid, aren't you?" the man asked as we tried to walk past. I stopped and looked at the man. He had a warm smile on his face.

I didn't feel any bad vibes coming off of him, so I smiled back. "Yeah, my dad's name is Dale." I glanced at Silver, who was glaring at me with a weird expression. I couldn't quite place it. But he didn't say a word.

He laughed. "I knew it, you look exactly like your mother." Well, I sure didn't look like my father. . . "So, how's he doing? I heard he's over on Route 45 now."

I nodded. "Yeah, he's doing fine," I said, "We've been there for three years now. Well, not me anymore." I glanced over at Silver again, and I decided that I should probably stop talking and leave. "Well, it was nice meeting you," I said with a overly cheerful smile.

Silver sighed loudly, and I waved goodbye to the guard and went on through the gate.

"This looks like a dump." Silver said, after he looked the ruins over. "Where in the hell are we?" I pulled my pokégear out, and proceeded to 'check' it.

He snatched it from my hands and looked at it. "The Ruins of Alph? What kind of fucking place is this?" I took it back from him and pocketed it.

"They're ruins, I guess?" I said in a not-so-helpful tone. "I want to look through them, though. Please?"

He groaned, but I guess he didn't object to it, because he shrugged. "At least we won't be in that retarded town with the fucking twerps."

I smiled brightly. "It'll be fun," I declared, "There's supposed to be like a puzzle room or something here." I started walking towards the nearest ruin, where a tour-guide looking lady stood.

I walked up to her, and even before I could say hello she started talking. "Welcome to the Ruins of Alph!" she chirped in that cheery tour guide kind of voice, "In this building there's a puzzle room built by ancient people! Isn't that exciting?" she asked, with a little too much zeal.

"Um, yeah," I said, a little put-off by her sunny attitude. Well, sunny as in two miles away from the sun kind of sunny. "I guess this is the puzzle room thing, then." I said to Silver, who was standing behind me.

"It sure is! And you wouldn't believe it, but no one's solved the puzzle yet! Maybe you two can!" I knew that was a lie, my mother told me that she had. But nothing happened. It was just a stupid puzzle.

But I still wanted to solve the stupid puzzle, so I went inside the building.

Well, it was dark. There was a crack in the ceiling that let a little bit of sunlight shine on a corner, bust most of the room was damp and dark. Water was dripping somewhere.

Someone had put up a string of bright lights around the walls, but it was still dark. I don't know why.

And speaking of the walls. . . My eyes lit up when I noticed it. Every inch was covered with the hieroglyphs. It looked like something out of an action adventure movie. All it was missing was the solid gold statue of Mew. And, well, the boobie traps.

"What a dump," Silver declared.

Oh, and it was missing the dashing action hero. I was still fascinated by the walls, well until I found the actual puzzle thing. A statue of an ancient pokémon stood next to a flat table, where the puzzle pieces lay scattered.

"Do you wanna try the puzzle?" I asked him. Even if he had said no, I would've done it anyway.

"No, but you're obviously going to need my brains," he said, walking over to the table.

I followed him up to the rock slab. The pieces were carved out of rock, too, and they were deeply etched with the designs. There was a square depression where I assumed the puzzle went. I set Myst down on the slab, away from the puzzle but still close to me, and I looked over the pieces. "We should probably start with the edges," I said, helpfully, after noticing Silver trying to match some pieces.

"I can solve a fucking puzzle," he snapped, "I don't need you telling me how."

I shrugged. "I was just trying to be helpful," I said in my defense. It was too bad that the judge didn't give a flying fuck.

I began gathering up all the pieces that looked like they were edges and began aligning them. They weren't exactly fitting together, being chunks of stone and all, but I could figure out what matched. They made a sort of circular shape.

Silver was actually doing amazingly well with the other pieces, I thought when I looked over at him. He pretty much had the whole thing put together already. There were two circles that I guess meant eyes, and insect-like legs that reminded me of Creeper, even though he was a spider.

So, with his part going along well, I began to wedge the outlines into the sunken section. We bumped elbows and arms a few times, and I earned my fair share of curse words from the red-head.

But eventually, we were done. "It looks pretty nice, doesn't it?" I said. Well, in a creepy way. It looked like an upside-down bug.

"I told you I could fucking solve a puzzle," Silver snapped.

"Yeah, I guess you can." I said appreciatively. He wasn't as dumb as he acted. I wondered why a smart kid like him acted the way he did. Weren't smart people supposed to be the ones who were bullied? Well, I wouldn't know, I was home schooled by way of my mom and the Internet. I had never set foot into a school.

We were about to pull out the puzzle pieces and leave before something odd happened. Well, if you count the floor suddenly disappearing as odd, instead of fucking insane. We fell, obviously.

The landing wasn't as rough as I expected, it was like we didn't fall as far as we did. But I wasn't hurt. I turned towards Silver. "You all right?" I asked.

He stood up, brushing off his clothes. "I'm fine." he said. I stood up as well, just in time to get hit in the head by a squirming, licking, squeaking Myst.

I think she was worried about me.

I calmed her down, and I looked around at wherever we were. There were eerie statues of pokémon that I couldn't recognize, some were benevolent looking, others were twisted and terrible looking. Still others looked positively prehistoric.

I have no idea why, but it felt like there was something else in there, breathing, moving. . . . Watching our every move. At first I almost thought it was from the statues, but it felt like the very walls of the place were alive. There was lights strung up on these walls, too, and they were covered in hieroglyphs, but they had this otherworldly quality to them.

I was lost in my thoughts, stuck in a la-la land of wonder. Apparently, anyway, because I was snapped out of my thinking by the sensation of being dragged by my arm. "Why are you dragging me?" I asked him, confused.

"You were sitting there, fucking staring at nothing like a moron. Like you usually do, I mean." Silver said, letting me go.

"It feels like there's something here," I said, "It's like the walls are alive or something." Silver was probably going to say something along his usual lines when my point was proven.

I screamed like a little girl, I am not ashamed to admit. A lot of people would scream like little girls if a flock of writing flew off a wall. Right? I wasn't the only one who was unsettled by the things, Myst had slid to the floor, and was hissing. She was also somehow expanding her body a little, to make herself look more threatening to the strange beings.

Well, a stray glyph went zooming our way, and Silver somehow knew or guessed that it was a pokémon, because he sent out his gastly.

Or maybe he was just going to attack it anyway. Who knows.

"Gastly, Lick," Silver ordered, and the gastly obeyed with glee, licking the thing with a gaseous tongue.

The glyph began to glow green. I stood there, bracing myself for its magical wrath. The green glow turned to a dark purple, and the glow exploded out in a wave that struck the gastly. Its evil eyes widened in shock. It must've hit harder than expected. The ghost was floating lower now, and less steady.

Silver cursed. "A dark typed Hidden Power. Of fucking course. Lick, now, you useless thing." Hidden power? What in the name of Arceus was he talking about? Was that like a move or something?

The gastly lunged at the thing, and it must've hit it well, because the strange creature fainted. Silver returned the gastly and calmly walked, as if a letter written on a wall didn't just attack us. I picked Myst back up, and she clung to me a little too tightly.

I shrugged to myself and I followed him. It must be a pokémon or something, I rationalized, some crazy pokémon that no one ever talked about. Like Pikablu. I swear, I saw one before!

We found a group of lost tourists who were freaking out. They had been wandering around, doing tourist-y things when suddenly they all felt like the walls were alive. One man had been listening to his pokégear radio when it began to make a disturbing noise, which he showed to me. It gave me the chills. It almost sounded like talking.

Silver didn't say a word about the incident before, so I kept my mouth shut too. The other tourists would probably call me insane. Hell, I'd call me insane.

We made it back to the entrance, where we were all grateful to see the afternoon sun. Its benevolent rays shone like a miracle straight from Arceus compared to the cold dampness of the ruin. The fresh breeze on my face was also wonderful.

I stood there at the entrance to the ruin, thinking. Everyone else except for Silver and I left quickly. A few minutes of us standing there in silence was broken by a man wearing a clean white lab coat and thick coke-bottle glasses. He came running up to us like the apocalypse was coming.

"Did the two of you see anything strange in there?" the scientist asked through desperate gasps of air. It looked like someone needed some more exercise, I thought.

I spoke up first. "Yeah," I said, "We were attacked by flying writing." The man was silent for a moment. "Well, if that's strange enough for you," I added.

"Yes! That's exactly it! You were attacked by a pokémon called unown."

"Unknown?" I asked, "What?"

He shook his head. "No, unown," he repeated, "With no K. It's the species name we gave it, because it is shrouded in mystery."

"Real fucking creative, Einstein," Silver said with a snort, "Morons like her are bound to get confused."

"Well, we all thought it was fitting," the scientist retorted. "It doesn't matter what a punk like you thinks."

"Are they in Sinnoh, too?" I asked. If there were hieroglyphs like that where my mom was, there was bound to be those unown things, too.

The scientist nodded. "Yes, they were discovered there by Leah Walters and her team."

"Ah. That's one of my mother's friends." I said, offhandedly. Silver cleared his throat. I ignored him.

"Who's your mother?" he asked curiously, "I think I know her."

"Her name is Anna Leavy," I supplied, "She used to research here."

The scientist nodded and smiled. "I know your mother. She's working over in Sinnoh, but not with the unown team."

"All right, I fucking get it. Everyone knows your damn parents," Silver said loudly, "Can we fucking go already?"

I winced. "Yeah, I guess we'd better get going," I said, "Thank you for the information."

We exited the Ruins of Alph out of a different route gate. There was some grass, and I could see a few pokémon lurking in there. "I could use the training," I said, half to myself.

"Yeah, you could. Wimp," Silver answered.

So we spent the rest of the day running through the grass. I didn't dare to use Creeper. I think Myst got in a lot of good training. She was looking stronger and more confident.

A little after sunset we- when I say that, I meant he- decided to go back to the pokémon center. We checked in and went to a different room. It looked nearly the same as the room we had slept in the night before.

I showered and changed. I didn't feel like putting my hair back into their normal pigtails. I was probably going to go to sleep soon anyway, so there really wasn't much of a point.

I was about to go and grab a bite to eat with Myst when I heard a horrible rendition of a song I liked. It was my pokégear ringing. The caller ID told me it was my father, so I answered it.

"Hello Krissy. How's my little pokémon trainer?" He said happily.

I groaned at the nickname. "I'm fine, Dad. We're in Violet City now."

"We're? Did you make a friend?" He sounded really happy for me. "Who is she?"

I snickered. He did kind of look like a girl. From a distance. Where you couldn't hear him- okay, that's not working. "My friend's a guy, Dad."

"Oh. Do I have to meet him? Did I ever give you The Talk?"

I frowned and groaned again. "No, no you don't."

He laughed. "So you said you were in Violet, eh? Did you visit the Ruins?"

"Yeah. We got attacked by writing."

He wasn't paying attention, it seemed. "You know, that's where your mother and I met," he said in a quieter tone. I knew that he really missed Mom. It suddenly hit me that he was probably feeling really lonely with just the other guard around. "She called earlier."

"Oh, did she? Did you tell her about me?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course I did, Krissy. She told me that she'd call you tomorrow. Oh, before I forget, your mother wired you something after she called."

"That's cool," I said, smiling. "I'll be sure to grab it."

"Well, honey, I'm going to go cook. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad. Bye," I said, hanging up. I slipped my pokégear into my pocket. I looked around, seeing Silver glaring at me from his bed.

"What did I do wrong this time?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"My dad. I think he's pretty lonely," I admitted, picking up a snoozing Myst from the bed. I don't know why I told him that, but I did get the response I was expecting.

"Oh boo-hoo. Now I know where you get it from." Silver sneered. "What does he do for a living, sell flowers?"

I sighed. "No, actually, he's a route guard."

Silver laughed. "And you were dumb enough to pull a stunt like that?" He shook his head in a condescending way. I guess he meant the whole 'supposed stealing' thing.

"Whatever, let's just go eat." I said, heading towards the door.

I heard Silver get up from his bed and follow me. "Took you long enough."

We walked to the cafeteria and got ourselves some food. I cooked myself a bowl of instant ramen and sat down at an empty table. I pulled Myst from my shoulders and placed her into the chair beside me.

Silver sat down in front of me. He had a sandwich or something. We ate in silence. It wasn't the bad kind of silence, I guess, especially compared to Silver's normal remarks.

He did say something, though, when I slipped Myst the rest of my food. "You're such a bleeding heart," he muttered.

I patted Myst on the head. "I'm going to get on to a computer for a second," I told him, pulling Myst back up on my shoulders.

He nodded slightly. I walked back to the front of the pokémon center, to where the computers were. I logged onto my trainer account that my mother had set up for me a few years ago. She was probably so happy for me.

In my Item Storage section, I saw my mom's gift. It was ten pots of honey. I honestly have no idea why she had sent me honey. Well, my mom told me before that in Sinnoh people spread it on a special kind of tree, but that kind of tree didn't grow in Johto.

But people also used it to just attract pokémon, so I took a few out. It would save me some searching, at any rate.

I walked back to the room, to go to sleep. It had been a long day, after all, and the next day was going to be even harder. Especially with the gym battle.

The gym battle. . . I had almost forgotten about that. A nervous feeling settled into my stomach as I climbed up into my bunk. Silver wasn't around, he was probably out somewhere. There wasn't anyone else in the room either, but it had looked like a few people had settled in, judging by the stuff scattered on the other beds.

I sighed to myself as I stared at the ceiling. What would the battle be like? I heard that Falkner used bird pokémon How would Myst attack them? All of her attacks relied on being able to actually grab the opponents.

I looked over at Myst, who was quietly sleeping on the side of my bed. I rolled over and made myself fall asleep. I was going to need all the rest I could get.


End file.
